Countdown just mentioned on NASA TV!!

[grep]

Rush and Countdown were just mentioned on NASA TV. A short blurb about how the band was invited to see STS-1, and how they wrote the song about the experience. 

It was also said that the song was playing somewhere in Mission Control during the Artemus 2 liftoff!!  

Edited April 6 by grep

[Principled Man]

A sleeping white dragon….

[BastillePark]

2 hours ago, grep said:

Rush and Countdown were just mentioned on NASA TV. A short blurb about how the band was invited to see STS-1, and how they wrote the song about the experience. 

It was also said that the song was playing somewhere in Mission Control during the Artemus 2 liftoff!!  

I've been surprised by how many Rush fans don't seem to like that song. 

[Principled Man]

8 minutes ago, BastillePark said:

I've been surprised by how many Rush fans don't seem to like that song. 

 

 

No guitar solo?  

 

I still remember a critic’s review of Signals way back when, and the guy called Countdown a “space fantasy”.   He had no clue about the lyrics’ meaning.   

[Rushzep]

Awesome!

 

Do you remember what time during the broadcast that  you caught this?

[Lurkst]

6 hours ago, BastillePark said:

I've been surprised by how many Rush fans don't seem to like that song. 

 

Always found it a bit clunky, especially the lyrics. They should maybe have made it an instrumental with the NASA announcements. It took over 30 years for Public Service Broadcasting to work that out though 

 

6 hours ago, Principled Man said:

No guitar solo?  

 

Keyboard solo < guitar solo (sorry Geddy)

 

 

[PurpleHayes]

8 hours ago, Principled Man said:

 

 

No guitar solo?  

 

I still remember a critic’s review of Signals way back when, and the guy called Countdown a “space fantasy”.   He had no clue about the lyrics’ meaning.   

 

I'd bet my left testicle that the reviewer also referred to Geddy's voice as an "ear-piercing shriek" in his review, even though Geddy pretty much stopped that after 1979. I always believed the music industry had a stylebook similar to what they use in the media, so reviewers who didn't bother listening to bands could just look up their entry and write a review like they actually know something, and I'm 99% certain that book would have described Geddy's voice as an "ear-piercing shriek" because I have seen that phrase used, word-for-word, in so many album reviews over the years...even as late as 2007's SnA.

Edited April 7 by PurpleHayes

[JARG]

11 hours ago, BastillePark said:

I've been surprised by how many Rush fans don't seem to like that song. 

I'm not.

[grep]

11 hours ago, Rushzep said:

Awesome!

 

Do you remember what time during the broadcast that  you caught this?

Within 5 minutes before I posted it.

[BastillePark]

2 hours ago, JARG said:

I'm not.

Maybe because it's about something that actually happened vs a guy finding a guitar and learning to play on his own but being rejected by the people in control? Possibly because it was about nobody's hero or even because it trees being angry with other trees? 

[JARG]

3 minutes ago, BastillePark said:

Maybe because it's about something that actually happened vs a guy finding a guitar and learning to play on his own but being rejected by the people in control? Possibly because it was about nobody's hero or even because it trees being angry with other trees? 

Maybe. For me, it's about Geddy's phoned-in vocal delivery. The music is somewhat cinematic, but the lyrics are journalistic and I don't think Geddy knew how to bring them to life, vocally. He cracked that nut by the time they did Manhattan Project.

[lerxt1990]

On 4/7/2026 at 6:54 AM, PurpleHayes said:

 

I'd bet my left testicle that the reviewer also referred to Geddy's voice as an "ear-piercing shriek" in his review, even though Geddy pretty much stopped that after 1979. I always believed the music industry had a stylebook similar to what they use in the media, so reviewers who didn't bother listening to bands could just look up their entry and write a review like they actually know something, and I'm 99% certain that book would have described Geddy's voice as an "ear-piercing shriek" because I have seen that phrase used, word-for-word, in so many album reviews over the years...even as late as 2007's SnA.

Whole industry was garbage and the internet being the final nail in their coffin was welcomed.  Rush were more forgiving than me, when that malignant c-nt Jan Wenner (and his publication that glorified believably mediocre bands because they said so and let progressive rock get slammed) finally came around with Rush, they accepted it gracefully.  When he appeared on that stage at the induction ceremony to honor them, meant nothing to me coming from him personally, he made it a little joke the reaction, instead of what it was, an indictment of his and his little magazines control of the industry.  Those lazy reporters and self proclaimed arbiters of talent all did that with Rush (and many other bands).  And their industry is largely gone now (in that format) and thats a good thing.

Edited April 8 by lerxt1990

[Principled Man]

On 4/7/2026 at 8:34 AM, JARG said:

I'm not.

Brian:  “You’re all individuals!”

 

Mob:  “Yes!  We’re all individuals!”

 

Brian:  “You’re all different!”

 

Mob:  “We’re all different!”

 

JARG:  “I’m not.”

 

[Bahamas]

From Wikipedia:

The song was used as a wakeup song for astronauts during STS-109, which was the last successful flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. It was used again for astronaut Mike Fincke during STS-134, flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final mission before retirement.

 

We played it during the launch, it was pretty thrilling.

[lerxt1990]

On 4/8/2026 at 7:52 PM, Bahamas said:

From Wikipedia:

The song was used as a wakeup song for astronauts during STS-109, which was the last successful flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. It was used again for astronaut Mike Fincke during STS-134, flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final mission before retirement.

 

We played it during the launch, it was pretty thrilling.

Thats tremendous.